[ EDITORIAL ]

Landings Vs. Winter Haven: Lawsuit Touches Down

Published: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 7:43 a.m.

Let the lawsuit filed by Landings financier Taylor Pursell against the city of Winter Haven be a lesson to other local governments to forgo greed.

Facts

CORRECTION

Tuesday’s editorial, “Landings vs. Winter Haven: Lawsuit Touches Down,” said the Winter Haven Recreational & Cultural Center is in the Chain ’O Lakes Complex. It is not. The center in the complex is called the community center.

Correction posted Tuesday, July 2, 2013, at 11:35 a.m. and applied to text.

Pursell sued June 24. He seeks a temporary injunction to stop the city from moving ahead on its own with a new set of plans, reported The Ledger's Ryan E. Little in an article June 25.

The Landings was to be built by Pursell on land sold to him by the city. The idea was to create a high-standard open-air mall with some similarities to the Lakeside Village mall in southeast Lakeland. The Landings would have included a hotel, restaurants, shops and a movie theater.

The land is Winter Haven's best, often described as its jewel. It is on the southeast corner of U.S. 17 and Cypress Gardens Boulevard. It has a wonderful view of Lake Lulu, for which it forms a portion of the shore.

The Chain O’ Lake Complex is the longtime resident of the land. It includes well-maintained baseball fields that were once used for spring training, the Rowdy Gaines Olympic Pool, community center and Theatre Winter Haven.

The idea was to relocate these features to other spots in Winter Haven, allowing the city to sell off the complex piece by piece to Pursell. In the end, Pursell would have an attractive development and the city would be able to draw in new people — particularly visitors to Legoland — first to The Landings, and then deeper into the city and downtown.

The expected result was additional business dollars, additional employment dollars and additional tax dollars.

Thus, greed.

STANDOFF

City officials would tell you — if they weren't gagged by the city attorney in light of the lawsuit — that the project was a matter of benevolence: Business income and employment income mean that local companies prosper, and that residents get new or better jobs.

That's fair, but the poorly planned rush to put together deals for The Landings points to the former more than the latter.

One lesson is to treat your most valuable possession with respect and security.

Pursell's lawsuit asks the court to allow The Landings to pick up and continue where it was cut off in January when the city terminated its contract.

The contract termination, city officials have said, is the result of Pursell not closing on a 0.33-acre parcel by May 5, 2012, and not providing covenants, conditions and restrictions.

Pursell says the requirement was made moot by an agreement to allow the RussMatt college baseball games to be played at the complex in 2014.

Such back-and-forth is how the lawsuit is likely to go.

The outcome is unlikely to please anyone.

The best result might be a set of good lessons to learn when considering subsequent projects.

<p>Let the lawsuit filed by Landings financier Taylor Pursell against the city of Winter Haven be a lesson to other local governments to forgo greed.</p><p>Pursell sued June 24. He seeks a temporary injunction to stop the city from moving ahead on its own with a new set of plans, reported The Ledger's Ryan E. Little in an article June 25.</p><p>The Landings was to be built by Pursell on land sold to him by the city. The idea was to create a high-standard open-air mall with some similarities to the Lakeside Village mall in southeast Lakeland. The Landings would have included a hotel, restaurants, shops and a movie theater.</p><p>The land is Winter Haven's best, often described as its jewel. It is on the southeast corner of U.S. 17 and Cypress Gardens Boulevard. It has a wonderful view of Lake Lulu, for which it forms a portion of the shore.</p><p>The Chain O' Lake Complex is the longtime resident of the land. It includes well-maintained baseball fields that were once used for spring training, the Rowdy Gaines Olympic Pool, community center and Theatre Winter Haven.</p><p>The idea was to relocate these features to other spots in Winter Haven, allowing the city to sell off the complex piece by piece to Pursell. In the end, Pursell would have an attractive development and the city would be able to draw in new people — particularly visitors to Legoland — first to The Landings, and then deeper into the city and downtown.</p><p>The expected result was additional business dollars, additional employment dollars and additional tax dollars.</p><p>Thus, greed.</p><p>STANDOFF</p><p>City officials would tell you — if they weren't gagged by the city attorney in light of the lawsuit — that the project was a matter of benevolence: Business income and employment income mean that local companies prosper, and that residents get new or better jobs.</p><p>That's fair, but the poorly planned rush to put together deals for The Landings points to the former more than the latter.</p><p>One lesson is to treat your most valuable possession with respect and security.</p><p>Pursell's lawsuit asks the court to allow The Landings to pick up and continue where it was cut off in January when the city terminated its contract.</p><p>The contract termination, city officials have said, is the result of Pursell not closing on a 0.33-acre parcel by May 5, 2012, and not providing covenants, conditions and restrictions.</p><p>Pursell says the requirement was made moot by an agreement to allow the RussMatt college baseball games to be played at the complex in 2014.</p><p>Such back-and-forth is how the lawsuit is likely to go.</p><p>The outcome is unlikely to please anyone.</p><p>The best result might be a set of good lessons to learn when considering subsequent projects.</p>